Proof Positive
by thunderbolt-sunshine
Summary: Leo and the sisters decide to prove that Chris is lying about Wyatt being evil by forcing him to take them to his own time. Shocked at their betrayal and unable to take any more Chris breaks under the pressure of his mission. No more Mister Nice Guy.
1. Chapter 1

"What have you done?" Chris asked in horror as orbs forced him away from the underworld and into a deserted street where Leo and the sisters were waiting for him. He already knew the answer to that question, though because he recognised the war torn street they were standing on immediately. As a child it had been one of his favourite places to play. Now it was just one more memory of Wyatt's savagery.

"We've all had enough of your lies and we're going to prove you wrong about Wyatt being evil once and for all," Leo said, an expression of smug superiority on his face. Chris found the urge to punch his father's arrogant face in overwhelming. He was tempted to give in to the urge but managed to hold himself back, knowing that it would only make a bad situation worse. "And once we do that we'll finally have the evidence we need to prove you're a threat to Wyatt and we can send you to the wasteland where you belong."

"And you thought you'd do that by going on a little trip to the future?" Chris snarled. "Idiots! You've got no idea what you've done."

"Hey, don't go putting the blame on us, buster!" Piper said angrily. "If you weren't such a manipulative little freak we wouldn't have to go to such lengths."

Chris tried not to be hurt when his mother lashed out at him but after months of enduring insult after insult from her and her sisters his resolve was weakening. He'd known since he was a child that Leo hated him so getting treated like crap by his father was nothing new but being constantly insulted and berated by the mother and aunts who'd raised him and loved him was wearing at his soul. Finally he snapped. Behind Piper and Leo Chris could see Phoebe and Paige taking in their surroundings and perhaps beginning to realise that his story did have some merit. He could also sense that they hadn't been too comfortable with this plan to begin with but right now he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but anger for any of them.

"Look around you Piper!" he snarled. "Do you like your son's handiwork? If anyone's a freak it's your little brat."

"My baby would never….." Piper began angrily.

"Your baby," Chris sneered mockingly, "bound by magic so I couldn't escape and made me watch while he ripped your head off and stuck it to the handrail at the bottom of the stairs at the manor. Your baby kidnapped Leo and gave him hundreds of tiny nicks with a knife laced with darklighter venom. I found out later it took him three days of burning agony to die." Chris knew he was being cruel but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "Your baby murdered Paige's husband. His only crime? Being non-magical. Your baby tried to rape your daughter. She was only saved because your other son, who by that stage had been tortured for three days by his big brother, managed to break through the binding Wyatt had put on his magic and get them both out of there. Your baby murdered Phoebe and her husband for trying to bind his magic after he nearly killed their nine year old daughter. Of course he would do this to people's homes. It's what he does for sport like normal people go to the gym!"

"You little bastard!" Piper screamed, waving her hands to blow the whitelighter up. Nothing happened, though. "My powers don't work! Why don't my powers work? What did you do to me you horrible little freak?"

Chris was so sick of being the one that got the blame for everything. "I'm flattered you think I'm so talented but I didn't have anything to do with this. It's a basic law of magic, you idiots. In a time that is not your own you can't use your magic if another version of yourself exists or has existed."

"So why can you use your magic in our time?" Piper retorted.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Because I haven't been born in your time. I haven't even been conceived so I'm the only version of myself in that time."

"You take back what you said about my son!" Leo snarled, having ignored the conversation about powers. He advanced on Chris menacingly.

"Oh please," Chris scoffed, completely unafraid. He knew that Leo was trying to intimidate him but after years of dealing with his homicidal maniac brother his pathetic father wasn't even a blip on his radar. "You know if you're trying to be frightening you should perhaps save it for someone who hadn't been dealing with your psychotic brat for years and who, like you, can't use their magic."

"The other elders won't stand for this when we get back to our time," Leo spat. "You'll get what you deserve, Perry!"

Chris raised a mocking eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And how do you plan to get back to your own time if none of you can use your magic?" he taunted. He knew that it would be a disaster of epic proportions of Wyatt got his hands on Leo and the Charmed Ones and that he should get them out of here and preferably back to their own time as soon as possible but he couldn't resist having a go at his father first. He also wanted to put off the moment he had to go back to taking their abuse for as long as possible. Right now he was on his own turf so he didn't have to take anyone's crap but it would inevitably be more of the same 'Chris is to blame for everything' when they got back to the past.

Leo clenched his fists. "So help me god. Perry I'm going to…"

"You're going to do what, exactly?" Chris mocked. "What can you possibly do to me that your insane spawn hasn't already?"

Apparently that was an insult too far because Leo launched himself at Chris, fists raised. Admittedly Leo had the element of surprise on his side but Chris was younger, in full possession of his whitelighter senses and reflexes and had years of experience under his belt fighting not just with his powers but physically as well. He easily spun out of the way and shoved Leo away, causing the elder to fall flat on his ass. Leo sat on the ground looking winded, shocked but, more than anything, delighted. "You little bastard. You attacked an elder. I'll see your soul recycled for this."

Chris rolled his eyes at the hypocrisy of it all. Of course in Leo's mind a little thing like the fact he attacked first and Chris had only been defending himself wouldn't matter. "Good luck with that," he sneered, knowing that Leo was all talk. "I think the council will be more interested in the fact you hit me. I thought the wise and all-powerful elders were supposed to be above petty things like violence."

"It's a matter of opinion who attacked first," Leo said smugly.

So that was Leo's plan. Lie to the elders and probably get the sisters to back him up. Piper would definitely lie on Leo's behalf but Chris wasn't sure about Phoebe or Paige. They had been horrible to him but not anywhere near as horrible as his own parents. Even if they did lie, though Chris had talked himself out of worse situations before. And it wasn't even a guarantee that the elders would want to recycle his soul. It wasn't as if his mission was getting anywhere with the help of the Charmed Ones so maybe it was time he brought the elders into it. They would understand the importance of 'future consequences' so he could probably show them a few of his memories. Perhaps the one of the heavens after all the elders had been massacred by Wyatt. They would definitely let him off any charges Piper and Leo brought then.

Before he could think up a suitable response his aunts interrupted his train of thought. "LOOK OUT!" they screamed in unison.

Leo and the sisters all dived out of the way as one of Wyatt's probes – a mechanical device about the size of a small car that looked like something out of star trek came floating down the street towards them. "Shit!" Chris yelled as it began to sense for the presence of magic. He blew it up before Leo and the sisters could be scanned but he wasn't fast enough to stop it catching himself. "We have to go! Now!"

"You have my power!" Piper yelled. "You stole it!"

"What the heck was that thing?" Paige demanded.

Ignoring his mother, Chris turned to his favourite aunt. He decided it wasn't worth the hassle trying to convince them that Wyatt had invented the horrible things but other than that he kept no secrets. There was no point now that Leo and the sisters were in his time. "It's called a probe. Magic is exposed now and demons use them in the streets to scan for magical people. The city was divided into various territories and only certain people with certain types of magic are allowed in some areas. The probes scan for trespassers."

"And we're trespassing here?" Phoebe asked nervously.

"Oh yeah," Chris nodded. "Only high level demons are allowed in this area."

"But this is our neighbourhood!" Piper protested. "The Manor's just around the corner."

Chris shrugged. "Paige is the only one of you left alive and she isn't stupid enough to live in the open. Demons took over the manor years ago."

"I don't believe you," Leo said promptly. "How do we know you didn't summon that thing to make yourself look good by destroying it?"

Chris gritted his teeth. "Now why would I do a stupid thing like that? It's blatantly obvious that you're never going to believe anything I do isn't evil and besides: we're in my time now so I don't have to pretend like I give a damn about you or what you think of me, which I don't. If not for the fact I want your two younger kids to be born I'd leave you to Wyatt's mercy."

Paige decided that she believed Chris. "How long do we have?"

Chris was looking up and down the street for Wyatt's guard which he knew would be coming. The only good thing about the situation was that apparently Leo and the sisters had had the sense not to orb right into the Manor. If they'd done that they would be dead or at least captured already, Wyatt alerted to their presence by the three probes and battalion of demons that monitored their childhood home around the clock. "Two or three minutes at most," he said. "We really need to leave now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Piper snapped, Leo nodding in agreement.

Chris growled in frustration. "You know what?" he snapped. "Fine. You win. I give up. You can do what you want. Save Wyatt or don't. I don't care anymore. I'll take you to Paige and she can deal with you stupid, ungrateful idiots. I'm done!" Before any of them could object he lunged, grabbing onto Paige, who was clutching Phoebe's arm, and Piper, who was holding Leo's hands. He orbed them all away. As second-in-command of the resistance, unlike most people he had the ability to orb straight into headquarters. He orbed directly into the living room of their family's living quarters and immediately let go of his passengers. "Aunt Paige!"

The aunt he knew and loved appeared in a flurry of orbs and immediately pulled him into a hug. "Chris, sweetie what are you doing here?"

"Ask them," Chris sneered in the direction of her younger counterpart, sisters and brother-in-law. He knew that he was being rude and he hated himself for it because, other than Melinda, these days he loved Aunt Paige more than anyone but Chris had reached the end of his tether. "And while you're at it you can find someone else to be their punching bag because I'm not doing it anymore. I'm done!"


	2. Chapter 2

Silence fell as Chris stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him as hard as he could. Her whitelighter senses had really improved over the years so Future Paige could feel her beloved nephew's hurt, anger frustration and grief. She considered rushing after Chris but she could sense that he'd already found Melinda. Paige knew how much her niece had missed her non-homicidal big brother these past few months so left the siblings to it. Nobody else would be able to calm Chris down like Melinda. Instead she focused her attention on the younger versions of herself, her sisters and oldest brother-in-law. She could sense that they were the ones who had caused Chris' anger and frustration and that his hurt and grief was directed at them as well. Suddenly Paige began to fear Chris had been having a much worse time in the past than she'd anticipated.

Leo and the charmed ones were giving Paige just as much scrutiny as she was giving them. Paige barely spared Leo a glance, though. It was a horrible thing to have to come to terms with, especially about her own sister's husband, but Paige had truly grown to despise Leo. After years of working for Social Services she knew all too well what kind of dark path the appalling way he'd treated Chris and Melinda could have caused his two youngest children to go down. Their only saving grace had been a loving mother in the form of Piper and the way Leo acted after her brutal murder – desperately trying to find a way to blame Chris, the only surviving witness – had only cemented Paige's opinion of the man. She'd heard about how Leo died and hoped that he'd seen the light before passing away but in all honesty Paige didn't hold out much hope.

She studied her younger self and sisters, both of whom were long gone now. Piper had visibly relaxed in the presence of someone she obviously felt she could trust and judging by the calculating expression on her face she was mentally formulating a list of questions she wanted answered. Phoebe and her younger self were more thoughtful and harder to get a read on but it was clear that, like Piper, they were taking in their surroundings and trying to figure out what to do next. Suddenly Phoebe slapped Young Paige on the shoulder. "You look good old!"

Future Paige snorted. That was such a Phoebe comment. Young Paige didn't agree with her sister's assessment, though. She could see the lines on her older self's face and the grief in her eyes. Young Paige had actually taken some of the things Chris had said to heart and was already beginning to fear for her future. Judging by the family photos which covered most of the walls of the living room there were some happy times to come in the following years but whether they were enough to offset the horrors they'd seen earlier out in the streets Paige couldn't make up her mind. She could still scarcely believe what she'd seen. Their own neighbourhood looked like something you saw in books about war histories or television pictures of third world countries and if Chris was to be believed, which she was now fairly certain he was, her own nephew was responsible.

Piper was also looking at the family photos. There were snaps of Phoebe and Paige both marrying handsome men and photos showing the growth of various children, many of whom bore the classic Halliwell features. She couldn't fathom why Chris, of all people, featured in several of them, though. "You don't have any pictures of Wyatt," she observed.

"As if I'd sully my family memories with pictures of him," Future Paige scoffed. After Piper died, when things had first gotten really bad, she'd honestly tried to remember Wyatt as the blond, bubbly little boy he once had been instead of the monster he'd become. In the end, though it had become too hard and all photos of him had been removed. She couldn't forgive the murders of her husband and sisters and nor could she forgive the hell Wyatt put her surviving family through on a daily basis. Keeping pictures of their father's murderer up hadn't been fair to the children, either.

Piper and Leo looked shocked and devastated. "S-So it's true then," Piper whispered. "My baby boy really has turned evil?"

"Do not," Paige said coldly. "Call him your baby. The child you raised bears absolutely no resemblance to the monster we now know as Wyatt Halliwell."

"N-No!" Leo stammered. "I can't believe this. There must be some mistake! There has to be!"

"Shut up, Leo," Paige ordered angrily. "If you haven't got anything constructive to say don't say anything at all. I wouldn't expect you to believe that your precious angel is anything but good and righteous. God knows it took until right before your death to admit that there might be something wrong with him and even then I doubt you ever admitted he was evil before he murdered you."

"Whoa!" Phoebe exclaimed, clutching her temples. Looking at the hardened woman her baby sister would become she wondered whether it was years of war which had caused Paige to feel nothing but pure hatred for Leo or whether there was some other reason.

"What happened?" Young Paige asked desperately.

Future Paige shook her head sadly. "That's the million dollar question. The best we've been able to narrow it down to is that some sort of evil got to him when he was still an infant and was left to fester inside of him until it took him over when he was in his mid-teens."

"So that's why Chris was sent back," Young Paige said, feeling bad for the young man. She hadn't been as mean to him as Leo and her sisters but all he'd been doing was desperately fighting to try and stop this horrible world from becoming reality and all she'd done was hamper his every effort. "He's trying to stop the evil before it even gets to Wyatt."

Future Paige nodded. "There's no stopping him in this time. He's done so much dark magic that he's become too powerful for even a group of people to take on. Stopping the evil is our only chance now."

"Why Chris?" Phoebe asked curiously. "Why not a member of the family?"

"No," Future Paige said, shaking her head. "No, I think I've answered enough of your questions for now. It's about time you answer some of mine. How did you all come to be here? Why is Chris so angry at you?"

For a long moment there was silence then Piper spoke up in a small voice. "He wouldn't tell us anything!"

And in that moment Paige understood. They didn't believe Chris when he told them he was trying to stop Wyatt becoming evil and had forced him here to try and expose him as a liar. She didn't need the details to understand that they had been making her nephew's life extremely difficult. She wondered how culpable her younger self was in this mess. Thinking back to the time she'd sent Chris to Paige reflected that she probably wouldn't have taken kindly to anyone calling her blond baby nephew of being a monster but that she would have at least entertained the idea if only to stop it happening. Until her children had been born, being newer to the world of magic than Piper and Phoebe, she'd had a hard time overriding her sisters' wishes whenever their opinions differed from hers, however so had usually gone along with what they wanted.

She would find out for sure later, though. Right now she had more important things to deal with. She glared at Piper. "Not revealing information about the future is one of the most important rules of magic whenever you time travel," she said coldly. "Think of how careful we had to be whenever we went to the past. Do you think you're so special now the laws of magic don't apply to you?"

"You don't understand!" Piper exclaimed, unnerved by her sister's anger and keen to deflect it off her. "Wyatt's my baby!"

"I understand plenty," Paige snapped, knowing how Piper could be. Her oldest sister was the warmest, most loving person on earth most of the time but sometimes she could be a right cow too. "Chris wouldn't give you the information you wanted. You didn't get your own way, blamed him for it and treated him like scum. Leo was always horrible to anyone who didn't worship at the altar of his precious, perfect Wyatt so made Chris' life hell and Phoebe and mini-me just followed your lead. Am I right?"

Having spent years caring for, not just her own children but Phoebe's daughters and Chris and Melinda as well, on her own Paige had had to become a very strong maternal figure in both the good times and the bad so managed to make Leo and the Charmed Ones feel like naughty children. They looked down in shame. "Why are you so protective of Chris?" Leo asked. "It's not like he's family."

Then, though Phoebe understood. "Family," she whispered, looking at Future Paige. "Oh god. Chris called you Aunt Paige!"

"WHAT?" Piper screeched, also turning to Future Paige. "Please tell me he's your nephew by marriage!"

"My husband was non-magical," Paige said coldly, knowing they were beginning to figure it out. She of all people knew the importance of future consequences but some secrets would have to be given away now that Leo and the Charmed Ones were in her time.

"Then Phoebe married a whitelighter!" Piper pleaded desperately. Paige knew the reason Piper was so desperate for Chris not to be hers wasn't necessarily because she hated him. It was more because Piper was a phenomenal mother and the idea that she'd spent the past few months making her child's life a living hell would be too much for her to bear. She needed to accept the truth, though.

"Phoebe's children are all girls," she said, slightly less coldly.

"Oh god," Piper moaned, slumping back onto the sofa. Chris was her son. Chris was her SON! Suddenly she understood a lot more. The reason why it was Chris who had been sent back in time became clear and the reason he'd known her and her family so well, why he knew exactly what buttons to push became obvious as well. "Oh my god!"

Piper didn't need Phoebe's empathy abilities or Leo and Paige's whitelighter senses to know how angry Chris was. She'd seen it in his face when they arrived in this horrible time. She just hadn't wanted to acknowledge it.

Her own child hated her and she didn't know what to do.

* * *

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm so glad people like my more assertive Chris. _

_Next chapter back to angry Chris. Now that they know who he is he'll have another confrontation with Leo and the sisters, this time backed up by his aunt and protective little sister. _


	3. Chapter 3

"Anyone would think that you'd missed me," Chris smirked as Melinda hugged him enthusiastically and then dragged him off to one of the empty meeting rooms where they would be able to talk privately.

"Like a wart," his sister snarked.

Chris knew she was just being sarcastic, though. He could feel that she had missed him just as much as he'd missed her. Growing up they hadn't been that close. Melinda had just been his annoying baby sister and he'd had much more in common with Wyatt. Now, though Mel was all he had in the world. Admittedly they still had Aunt Paige and all the cousins but, even though it was Wyatt who had carried out the murders, Chris and Mel both feared the others held them responsible for the deaths of Uncle Henry, Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop so it was mostly them against the world.

"Yep. You missed me," he said decisively.

"Yeah," Melinda admitted. "How are you going? Did it work?"

Chris snorted. "Do you see sunshine, roses and mom?"

"How bad is it?"

"Bad," Chris said flatly before going on to outline the harassment he'd been enduring and the whole other side of their family he'd been witnessing. A part of him wanted to maintain the idealised images Melinda had of their mother and aunts but the two of them had long ago made a pact never to lie to each other. "Think of how Leo treated anyone who didn't worship the ground Wyatt walked on when we were kids. That's the way the whole lot of them are. They refuse to admit there might be anything wrong with their precious, perfect psychotic brat."

"Bitches!" Melinda shrieked, hating anyone who treated the only brother she had left badly. "I'll kick their asses for you if you want."

Chris snorted. "Thanks, but no. I don't think beating up mom will make anything better."

"What will make things better?"

"I don't know, Mel," Chris sighed. "I don't want to have to kill Wyatt but I'm starting to think that I'm going to have to. I was so sure that changing the past was the best way to go but that won't work without the help of the charmed ones and they've got no interest in helping because that would mean admitting Wyatt is a psychotic megalomaniac hell bent on world domination. There's no turning him back in this time now. Taking him out once and for all is the only way this war is ever going to end."

Melinda frowned. "I don't disagree with you but I still don't think that burden should be put on your shoulders."

"It has to be me, Mel," Chris said glumly. "You know I'm the only one powerful enough to stand a chance of succeeding."

"But what if you don't succeed?" Melinda asked in an uncharacteristically small voice. "Then I'll have lost you as well and there'll be no chance of ever getting rid of Wyatt and ending the war."

"You never know," Chris said, shrugging half-heartedly. "Maybe someone else can do a better job of changing the past than me."

"So you're really not going to give the past another go?"

"What's the point, Mel?" Chris asked brokenly. "They all hate my guts and have made it clear they won't do anything to help. I haven't been doing any good on my own, either. And if I have to put up with Leo's arrogant, condescending crap for much longer I'm going to end up killing the bastard which will erase both of us from existence."

Melinda looked thoughtful. "What if I go back with you?"

Chris hadn't expected that. "What?" he asked, startled.

"Think about it," Melinda argued. "You know what Wyatt wants to do to me if he catches me so I can't leave the compound. It's driving me mad sitting around doing nothing. If I go back with you I can give you some back up in the underworld, you won't be alone anymore and I can deal with mom and the aunts when they get bitchy."

Chris snickered. "You just want to make Leo's life difficult."

"That to," Mel admitted, unashamed. "What do you say?"

"Aunt Paige is Head of the Resistance," Chris said. "Let's go see what she thinks."

He forced himself to take his aunt's opinion into consideration even though he wanted to say yes immediately. As much as he'd grown to hate his older brother Chris didn't want to have to kill Wyatt. The only way he was going to avoid having to go down that road, though was by successfully changing the past and right now the thought of going back in time again really didn't appeal. If Melinda came with him, though then he would definitely have another go. It would be nice to have an ally in the battles he faced on all fronts.

Chris returned to the family's living quarters, followed by his sister. The closer he got the more he was able to sense Leo and the charmed ones, still talking to Aunt Paige. As much as he didn't want in the mood to deal with them yet he needed to talk to his aunt so he squared his shoulders and walked in anyway. He immediately saw that his mother had been crying. It took Chris a moment to figure out why but when Leo and all three sisters stared at him as though they had never seen him before he cottoned on. He had called Paige 'Aunt' in their presence. They knew who he was. He was angry at himself for all those months of working to keep his secret which were now down the drain. This changed nothing, though. His mission remained the same and he was still the same person as he had been yesterday. If Leo and the sisters started treating him differently now they knew he was a Halliwell it would only prove what hypocrites they were. The only reason they would be being nice to him was because they'd found out his secret. It was the only possible explanation when, just a few hours ago, at least two of them had been hoping the elders would kill him.

"Chris!" Piper exclaimed, standing up and reaching out to him.

Chris sneered at her. "Shut up. I have nothing to say to you." Then, with a much more pleasant expression on his face he turned to his aunt. "Aunt Paige, Mel's hand an idea that we want to run by you."

"Oh?" Future Paige asked.

"Chris, please!" Piper moaned.

"Okay, new rule," Melinda snapped, amazed by the arrogance of Leo and the younger charmed ones. Whether they were doing it consciously or not she could tell that they were going to try and make Chris feel bad for being angry at them for how they'd treated him. "You people don't speak to Chris unless he speaks to you first. After what you've done to him you don't get to be all nice now!"

"And who are you?" Leo asked.

Chris' jaw dropped. How could he not have figured out who Mel was? There was a glaring physical resemblance so it was obvious that the two of them were siblings. Melinda had Leo's eyes but otherwise was a perfect replica of their mother. Anyone with eyes could see that she was Piper Halliwell's daughter. "Wow, Leo. I always knew you were an idiot but are you really that blind?"

"Do you have to be so rude to your father, Chris?" Phoebe asked reproachfully.

"Did Leo have to make months of Chris' life a living hell and then threaten to have his soul recycled?" Melinda promptly snapped in defence of her brother. Aunt or not, Phoebe was not going to make her brother feel bad for finally standing up for himself.

"W-We didn't know who he was," Piper tried to explain.

"Oh!" Melinda sneered. "Oh, right so that makes everything okay then. We treat everyone outside of the family like they're scum now, do we? I'll remember that. Thanks for the memo."

"Okay, stop it all of you!" Future Paige interceded. "Leo, Piper, Phoebe sit down! You can't blame Chris and Melinda for being angry. You've acted like horrible, spoiled, arrogant, cruel brats. We used to treat demons with more mercy than you gave Chris. And Chris, Melinda you two sit as well. You've got a right to be angry but let's not make a bad situation worse, okay?"

"Fine," Chris said, reluctantly sitting opposite Leo and the sisters, on the same couch as his aunt and sister.

"Melinda?" Young Paige asked, remembering that it was a family name.

Chris and Melinda could see that she had figured it out. "Oooh goody, so one of them has a brain," Melina muttered. "Yes, I am Melinda Grace Halliwell, youngest child of Piper Halliwell, sister to Chris and, unfortunately, Wyatt."

"You're my daughter?" Leo asked in amazement.

"Just because we share a tiny bit of DNA does not make you my father, Leo!" Melinda snapped.

"Wow, neither of you like your father very much do you?" Phoebe asked, clutching her temples as all the negative emotions in the room, mostly directed at her brother-in-law, began to give her a blinding headache.

"He's never given us a reason to," Melinda said coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo asked, wounded.

"It means that mom had three children but Wyatt was the only one who ever mattered to you!" Chris snapped, loosing patience. "Mel and I were never anything but horrible mistakes in your eyes. You never failed to make that clear every time we saw you."

"No way!" Leo denied. "I would never do that to my children."

"You keep telling yourself that, Leo," Chris sneered.

"You did that and so much more," Paige said coldly, speaking directly to her brother-in-law for the first time. "If it wasn't for the fact Piper loved Chris and Melinda as much as Wyatt my husband and I would have sued for custody of them."

Leo opened his mouth to say something else but Melinda cut him off. "Look, Leo's an arse – that's old news. We don't need to keep rehashing it. Can we please get back to the matter at hand? We need to discuss the idea I had."

"Go ahead," Paige invited.

"As much as I hate the thought, when we find a way to send this lot back to their own time I need to go with them," Chris said, gesturing in the direction of Leo and the sisters. "The only alternative to changing the past is actively trying to kill Wyatt. As much as I loathe him I can't say I relish the idea of killing my brother and I'm the only one powerful enough to stand a chance of succeeding but it's a battle I'm not sure I can win. You'd all be screwed if I get myself killed so the way I see it changing the past is the only viable option left."

"Agreed," Paige nodded.

"And when they go back I want to go with them," Melinda said. "There's nothing productive I can do to help here and Chris needs somebody on his side. Even if these four aren't going to help him I can."

"We'll help!" Phoebe chimed in.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Chris said, without sparing them a glance. "Aunt Paige?"

Paige gave her niece and nephew a long look. She wanted to believe if she refused they would accept her command but deep down Paige knew they were only asking out of courtesy – if she said no they would probably go and do it anyway. She didn't have any real intention of saying no, though. She knew how frustrated Melinda was, locked up inside headquarters, unable to go outside for fear of getting kidnapped by Wyatt, and she could see how tired and lonely Chris was. Sending Melinda back to the past would benefit both siblings, especially if Chris had so far had as horrible a time as she was beginning to realise he had. "Okay," she nodded. "Just be careful, okay? And look after each other."

"We will," Melinda said, as she and Chris jumped up to leave. "We'll be in the library."

"Chris, Melinda can't we talk about this?" Piper begged.

"There's nothing to talk about," Chris said. "This changes nothing!"

"This changes everything!" Phoebe insisted.

"No it doesn't," Melinda said. "Chris is still the same person he was yesterday, one that you abused, belittled and threatened. Just because you've acknowledged he's your son doesn't make all of that go away and if you people are finally developing consciences that's not our problem. You created the guilt. You live with it. Now, if you'll excuse us we have to figure out how to break into the Manor without getting killed!"


	4. Chapter 4

Piper Halliwell felt as though her world had been turned completely upside down. She'd been so sure of herself that morning, so sure that she knew exactly what she was doing but now she felt as though she was drifting in a sea of uncertainty that she might never get out of.

In a matter of hours everything she thought she knew had been shattered. She hadn't caught more than a few glimpses of this horrible future but it was enough to know that it was bad; really, really bad and there could be no more denying that Wyatt, the baby boy she adored was responsible. Thousands of people would die and her sweet, loving baby sister would become a battle hardened, embittered woman as she tried to hold what remained of their family together. The young man she'd spent months being horrible to, months torturing was apparently her son and he now hated them all, with the possible exception of Paige. She had a daughter who hated them just as much and Leo, the loving husband and even more loving father to Wyatt, had been a horribly neglectful, borderline abusive, father to their two youngest.

Piper didn't know what to do or what to believe anymore. She had to try and make things right with Chris and Melinda but her daughter was right: no amount of apologies was going to erase the agony of the past few months or Leo and Wyatt's future sins. Piper realised that the only way things were going to get better was if Chris saw a difference in the way they treated him when they got back to the past. Even then it wouldn't be immediate, either. Chris already believed that the only reason they were trying to be nice to him was because they'd found out his true identity. That was completely untrue, of course – as much as Piper was loathed to admit it Melinda was right when she said they couldn't keep treating every magical being outside the family so badly – but she could see why Chris would believe that. Things couldn't go back to the way they had been before, though. Piper had a feeling her feisty daughter was going to make sure there were some changes; not that she wasn't going to do the same herself, of course.

Suddenly a frantic voice intruded on her thoughts. "MOM!"

A teenage boy whose life Piper had already observed in the numerous photos on the walls burst into the room and headed straight for Paige. Piper looked at him, her nephew, with interest and saw Phoebe and, especially her Paige, doing the same. His spiky brown hair was the exact same shade as her youngest sister's but otherwise he looked exactly like the man in Paige's wedding photo, the man who must be his father.

"Henry?" Future Paige said, jumping up when she saw her son. "What's wrong?"

"Oh good you are here," Henry said, his relief palpable. "SHE'S HERE!" he yelled out the door. "It's Prue, mom. She's hurt really bad!"

Four teenage girls, two of whom were identical twins, burst in, carrying a fifth girl who would not have been able to walk on her own considering all the blood she must have lost. The first thing Piper noticed, having been around enough injured people to know what was severe and what wasn't, was that in the non-magical world there would be nothing that could be done for her. Magic was the only thing that could save her now. The second thing she noticed was that this girl, Prue, was Phoebe's daughter. Not only was Prue a family name, the girl was an exact replica of Phoebe. There was no difference between them, save for the girl's pasty white skin caused by blood loss. Piper really hoped that her baby sister could do something for Prue because she did not want to witness the death of her niece. Vaguely registering Chris and Melinda slip back into the room, horrified expressions on their faces, Piper went to comfort Phoebe, who was clearly thinking similarly dark thoughts.

"Set her down on the couch," Future Paige ordered, raising her hands to heal the girl. Leo also automatically moved to help before remembering that he didn't have his powers in this time. Frustrated and fearful he moved to stand with the Charmed Ones.

"Auntie Paige," the wounded girl croaked weakly.

"Save your strength, sweetie," Paige said soothingly. "You're going to be just fine, I promise."

"What happened?" Piper heard Chris whisper to one of the twins.

"Fucking Tyler," the girl told Chris tearfully. "He was going to shoot me and Becks with his darklighter arrows. Prue pushed us out of the way. I don't know why. I guess she thought it wouldn't be as bad for her seeing as she doesn't have any whitelighter blood."

"She was wrong," the other twin – Becks, Rebecca? – said, guilt in her eyes.

"Hey, Aunt Paige is right!" Chris said, wrapping an arm around each girl. "Prue's going to be fine. You two shouldn't feel guilty because she got hurt. She took that arrow for you willingly, because she loves you!"

Tears pricked the back of Piper's eyeballs as she listened to her son try and comfort his cousins. She had been so wrong about him. She'd spent months thinking that he had some nefarious plan to destroy her family but all he was trying to do was save their family and he had suffered terribly because of it. She just hoped that one day Chris would believe how proud of him she was.

She sighed with relief as Prue's wounds closed up as Paige poured her healing magic into them. Piper wondered whether Paige's healing abilities had just developed over the years or whether her baby sister had died and become a full whitelighter. Either way, though she was just glad that one of her sisters was still around to watch over their family even if she and Phoebe weren't.

Prue was helped into a sitting position and the two girls who weren't twins – presumably her sisters – immediately flung themselves at her. "I'm fine," she tried to assure them. "I'm fine, I swear."

Out of the corner of her eye Piper noticed Chris and Melinda slipping quietly from the room again just as one of Prue's sisters suddenly piped up: "hang on, what's Chris doing back? Isn't he supposed to be working the mission in the past?"

"What are they doing here?" Henry asked, his eyes widening as he registered the presence of Leo and the Charmed Ones.

Briefly Paige their mother/aunt told the teenagers how they had all come to be in this timeline. None of them looked happy to learn how Chris had been treated but they weren't anywhere near as hostile as Chris and Melinda. On the couch Prue and her sisters looked longingly at Phoebe who quickly took the hint and went to sit with them, now that the crisis was averted happy to find out how one day her dream of motherhood would be realised. Young Paige also drifted across the room to meet Henry and the twins who she quickly figured out must be her children.

"Where did Chris and Melinda go?" Leo asked, referring to their missing children.

Piper nodded. "They should be with their family right now so if there's somewhere else we can go we will go so they don't have to be around us if they don't want to." It killed her to say that but she knew it had to be said.

Prue overheard the question and shook her head. "There's no point in you leaving. Chris and Mel wouldn't stay anyway."

"Why?" Piper asked, confused.

It was Prue's sister, Antonia, who answered. "Chris and Mel believe that we blame them for daddy and Uncle Henry dying seeing as holding Wyatt responsible would be fatal for us. They're wrong, of course, but no matter what we do we can't get them to believe it."

"Mostly I think it's because they blame themselves for Wyatt turning evil," Phoebe's youngest daughter, Isabella, said softly. "They're his siblings and they didn't turn evil so they think there's something they could have done to stop Wyatt."

Piper sighed, realising how hard things must be for her two babies. Paige and their cousins might not blame them for Wyatt's evil deeds but she knew Chris and Melinda probably weren't wrong about some people holding them responsible for their brother's actions. She could still remember the suspicion and scrutiny she had faced during the brief period Phoebe had spent as Queen of the Underworld. She could also understand them blaming themselves. She'd spent the whole time Phoebe was evil wondering if there was something different she could have done to stop this.

"So none of you really have a problem with Chris and Melinda?" Phoebe asked.

"Of course not!" Rebecca exclaimed. "It's Wyatt we have the problem with. It's always been Wyatt!"

"Rebecca!" Future Paige said warningly.

"No, mom!" Rachel, the other twin, said, looking at her mother apologetically. "You know that Wyatt was already a problem even before he went all evil dictator. If they're going to stop this then they need to know!"

"Tells us," Piper begged, desperate to know how bad the damage was.

"Chris never knew this," Antonia said. "He never saw it because when we were kids Chris was the only person Wyatt ever liked. Actually I'm convinced that the only reason more of the family hasn't been wiped out is because Chris is still the only person Wyatt likes. Chris is the only one in the family whose power rivals Wyatt and if Chris joined him the two of them would be unstoppable. I'm pretty sure Wyatt hopes to use the fact he hasn't killed us to lure Chris over to his side and then get Chris to lure us over as well."

"That's beside the point, though," Prue said. "We were talking about when we were kids. Personally I think its Leo's fault. You, Aunt Piper, always treated him the same as Chris and Melinda but Leo always treated him like he was god's gift to the world and forced others to treat him that way as well so he grew up thinking that the world owed him something."

"He was a bully," Rachel said angrily. "Especially towards Henry and Bella."

Piper shot Leo and angry look. "We'll be having a serious discussion about this later, Leo Wyatt!"

"Yeah," Leo sighed, not really objecting. He was horrified that he would treat his children like this.

Suddenly Young Paige brought up something that had been worrying her. "What did Melinda mean when she said they were going to figure out how to break into the Manor without getting killed?"

Her older self looked grim. "Chris wasn't lying when he told you that demons took over the Manor years ago. Because of the Nexus it's one of Wyatt's most important power bases. Unfortunately that means it's also one of the most heavily guarded places in the world, by both the probes and demon guards."

Grimly Leo saw where this was going. "And we have to get into the Manor in order to get home, don't we?"

"Yes," Paige confirmed. "The only way to send you to a specific time is to use the power of the Nexus. It took us three months of planning last time and the only reason there were no casualties on our side was because we had Bianca's help. This time we don't have any inside help and if the rumours are to be believed security at the Manor's been increased tenfold since our last breech."

"Three months," Piper breathed in horror, thinking of Wyatt who she'd left with her dad and of P3 that was being run by Ben, the new manager, seeing as this was her day off. What would happen if she and her sisters disappeared for three months?

"Good," Paige said sharply. "I see you're starting to realise how serious what you did is. You can't keep treating people like this, Piper. Actions have consequences and because of our magic the consequences of our actions are usually much more severe."

"I can see that now," Piper whispered. "God, getting home isn't going to be easy, is it?"


End file.
